Sermon 48 Matthew 10.32-39 Discipleship Defined By Jesus

In Matthew 10 this morning we continue on the theme of Kingdom Missions for Christ and his Gospel. Missions is really the one word umbrella term that can be put over Matthew 10. But indented underneath missions is a corresponding sub-theme running through this chapter, which is that of discipleship. Christian discipleship. This morning I want to bring you a message I have entitled Discipleship Defined by Jesus. If there's anyone from whom we want to hear the definition of what it means to be a Christian, to be a disciple, we want to hear it from Christ himself. We want to accurately understand the demands of discipleship that Jesus sets for all who would come after him. If we're going to sign up for a social club, we want to know the kind of personal commitment that's required of us, don't we? If we sign up for a golf club, we want to know what sort of time commitment is required, what sort of green fees I'm going to have to pay. If we sign up to be on a local board of trustees, we need to understand how many meetings we need to attend and what the cost factor is going to be. Becoming a Christian is much the same. It's not without its demands on every facet of your life and you must weigh in the cost factor. In Matthew 10, Jesus wants us to weigh in and consider carefully whether we can bear the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, whether his yoke will be too much for us. Though his yoke is light, it is absolutely true of course that we cannot merit one iota of righteousness before God. It is absolutely true that the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus is only that which has sufficed to save. And yet at the same time, when Jesus saves, he sets his people on a path and he says this way and no other. What we will learn this morning is that Jesus makes the highest of demands upon his followers. Whereas many today want to teach that Christianity is an easy smooth road, and some today will teach that Christ can be known as our Saviour but not as our Lord. Jesus will show us that if we wish to be his disciple, we must take up our cross and follow him, even if that means death for our Master's sake. Jesus is here managing expectations for us all, that we would not be confused. We do not want to be under any false pretences about the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I have three headings to guide you through this passage. The first heading, considering verses 32 to 33, is the high stakes of discipleship. Read again verse 32: "Therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven."

Notice that there is a therefore at the beginning of verse 32, which indicates that Christ's statement here continues a point made in the preceding context. Jesus has just given a list of reasons why his disciples ought to be emboldened on their mission to declare the Gospel of the Kingdom without fear. Having made that point in various ways, he now seals it off with an astounding assurance and reminder that in the end the only person's opinion that will really matter about you and me is the opinion that Jesus has of us. We are reminded that a day of judgment is coming upon all humanity, and on that day either Christ will confess us before the Father or he will deny us before the Father.

Brothers and sisters, I would love for my wife to have a high and favourable opinion of me. That would be great. I would love for my family, present and future, to have a high opinion of me. That would be great too. But such opinions really in the end will not matter one iota concerning my soul. Your spouse, your family, your friends' opinion of you will not matter on the last day. What they thought of you, what they said of you, what they believed about you, it will not matter. For it is Jesus Christ, not they, who will speak the words concerning your eternal destiny before the Father. Jesus' first definition of discipleship here reminds us that only those who confess him before men, that is, live for him first and foremost in the world, he shall confess before God the Father. And those who deny him, who really just live for themselves, he will deny such. The stakes of discipleship could not be any higher than this.

We look forward to paydays, don't we? We look forward to family holidays. We look forward to leisure days. We look forward to the day we get married. We look forward to the day we welcome a new child into our family. All important days, but the day that really matters for you and me is the day when we will stand before the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and he will confess us or he will deny us. The stakes could not be higher.

Look at the details here with me. First of all, we see in these verses Jesus giving an expectation. The expectation is that Christians will be known as his followers in the world. That's what confessing here means. To be a Christian is to be a trophy of the grace of God which is in Jesus Christ. And Christ does not keep his trophies in some cabinet locked away where no one can see them, gathering dust. Christ means to display us as his trophies of grace in the world where all can see, that they might shine brightly as witnesses for him. John Calvin says here, "There is no believer whom the Son of God does not require to be his witness." A Christian is to the indwelling Spirit of God saved for the purpose of witness and worship. Many people think of Christianity in terms of fire insurance, or just in case things go badly I'll have this as my backup plan. How wrong. How sad. How deceived. How shallow. The Bible orientates salvation around these two pillars of witness and worship. That's why he saved us: witness and worship. 1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Why? So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." Proclaim it with your words, proclaim it with your life, proclaim it with your very being. Confess Christ.

So what are the priorities that you have currently set in your life? Whatever age, whatever stage you may be, how is it that witness and worship, those two pillars, are reflecting in your life? Are they forefront or are they now in the background? Is it true of us that the culminative story of our lives will show that we were those who were truly confessors of his name before men?

There's a big difference between professing Jesus and confessing Jesus. Those who profess Christ are only there when it's easy to identify with him. Those who confess him identify with him even when it's costly to do so. Professors of Christ have a superficial interest in the word of God only. Confessors of Christ want to know the word that they might know God. Professors of Christ pray when they need something. Confessors of Christ pray because their very life depends on his presence and help. The professor of Christ will say to him on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not do this thing and that thing in your name?" The confessor of Christ will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." There is a marked difference between professing Christ and knowing Christ, between professing Christ and confessing Christ.

Secondly, in the details here I want you to see that Christ gives us a sure promise of reward to his disciples. His promise to us is that he will confess our names before the Father. What a thought is that! Jesus is assuming here a mediatorial status on behalf of all humanity. He claims directly here that it is he alone who will intercede in all matters in the end. All judgment has been rendered to the Son. Jesus promises that just as his people testify of his person in the world, so he will testify of them before the Father. That is to say, on the final day of judgment, Christ will say of the Christian, of you and me, "This one belongs to me. Let him into the presence of my Father." Charles Spurgeon put it this way: "Stand back ye angels, the King will say. Stand back ye seraphim, ye cherubim. Make way for him. He loved me in the days of my scorn. He suffered for me on earth. I know him, my Father. I confess him before thee in heaven amidst the glories of my throne. I confess him before thee. He is mine." That's what he will say of you, dear believer.

Thirdly, in the details here I want you to see there is a corresponding indictment made by Christ, the warning of what shall become of all others. He says, "But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven." We ought to tremble at these words. There is no thing more that ought to sober a person up than to know that there are those who will be denied by Jesus Christ at the gates of eternity. It is by this means that God will identify the wheat from the chaff in the church in the last day, the confessors of Christ who truly belong to him from the professors only. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will separate the wheat from the chaff. In the end, what matters in your lives is not what the world says of us, not what our family says of us, not what our friends say of us. What matters is what Christ shall say of us, at that great day of reckoning when the books are opened and all is revealed. We can be prepared for that day. How? By confessing Christ and believing and following him.

My second heading, looking at verses 34 to 37, is the sobering reality of discipleship. Look again with me. It says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

The sobering reality here I want you to see is the extent to which the Gospel will affect relationships. The extent to which the Gospel will affect relationships. Here is perhaps one of the hardest pills to swallow in the Christian life, in the way of the cross. Jesus makes it plain that the message of the Gospel will divide people even within families. Look at the details here. First of all, in verse 34, Christ says, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword." Now, whatever could Christ mean? Is Jesus not the prince of peace, the one who is meek and lowly and gentle in heart? Is this not he who earlier said in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the peacemakers," and now he says, "I have not come to bring peace"? What does Christ mean? Is this a contradiction? Not at all. There never was a man of peace like Jesus Christ. What this statement means is that the work of the Gospel on the heart of a person may very well mean that for those who do not know Christ around them, they will now despise him or her. Christ is indeed the prince of peace. Come to him and you will have peace with God. But to have peace with God is to have enmity with the world. That's Jesus' point. To have peace with the world, to live in accordance with the ways and desires of the world, is really to be at enmity with God. Why would God ever want to leave you in that sort of peace? The best thing that Christ can do is disrupt any family who does not know Christ, to bring salvation into that household. Because when there is no peace with God, there is only false peace. In James 4:4 it says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." This is what Christ is saying. This is the sword of division, the sword of the Gospel, that will divide even families when one knows Christ and the other does not. The point could not be clearer. You are not to be surprised by opposition or conflict with others as a consequence of your Christian faith, even in family.

Now of course we desire and we don't try to stir up unnecessary hostility in our families. Of course we want to be peacemakers as much as possible. But know for certain that the more brightly that you shine for Christ, the more you speak of him to your lost family members, the greater will be the rift that will open between you and them, and you must be willing to bear that cost, however hard it is. Is that a load that you're willing to bear for him? Christ says you must. What peace really is there in a family if no one loves Christ? For the sake of salvation, the truth of the word of God and the Gospel must disrupt false peace in families so that true peace, that is, peace with God, might be known and experienced. So keep at it, Christian, I would say. If you're in this situation, as I know many of you are, keep at it. Be faithful. Pray for your family. Do not withhold the Gospel even if it means division occurs. Christ is telling us that to be a disciple of his, we must understand that he is to be prioritised even if it means the members of our own household make an enemy of us. He's not saying seek disunity. He's not saying avoid peace if you can. Rather, this is what can be expected when the truth of God reigns in the heart of one but not in the heart of another.

So Jesus emphatically develops this. Matthew 10:21 says, "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and a child will rise up against parents and cause him to be put to death." This has always been the way, friends, right from the beginning. Think of Cain and Abel, two brothers, one brother against the other because of his devotion to God, because the Lord was pleased with his offering. Think of King Asa of Israel, who had to remove his own mother from her position as Queen Mother because she set up idols, but his heart was steadfast towards the Lord God. Think of Abigail, that godly woman who married the wicked Nabal. Think even of Jonathan and his father King Saul. Families will be divided, you see.

R. C. Sproul says here, "Although coming to Christ brings peace to the heart and even reconciliation between generations, embracing the Gospel also makes life more difficult in some respects, for Jesus demands allegiance that takes priority over the natural ties of life." So this is a sobering reality before us of the demands of discipleship.

Thirdly, and finally here, in the last two verses, I want you to see the radical extent of discipleship. Reading again it says, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it."

Here Jesus begins to press us with a full disclosure statement. He hides no secrets as to what the Christian life will really be about for you and me. There is no fine print that Jesus leaves us scrambling to find, to read what the Christian life is really about. It's all very plain before us. It's right here in Matthew 10:38. Theologian Don Carson says here, "Taking one's cross does not mean putting up with some awkward or tragic situation in one's life, but painfully dying to self."

Today in our society it has become commonplace for the symbol of Christianity, that is, the cross, to be seen on jewellery. You've probably all noticed this. You'll see crosses everywhere, on earrings, sterling silver necklaces with crosses, tattoos of crosses on the arms. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. But I do wonder sometimes if those who wear these crosses really understand what the cross is about. I wonder if they realise that there was a time and a day when a cross was the very opposite of a symbol of hope and forgiveness, but was instead a symbol of the curse of God, a symbol of utter shame and contempt. No one had a cross tattoo in the first century. No one was wearing cross necklaces in the first century when the Romans crucified their criminals. It was an object of horror, of unthinkable suffering. No one was built up or inspired by the cross. Seeing a cross was a symbol of death and destruction. The Lord Jesus was put to death on a Roman cross. He, the Son of God, became our sin bearer on that cross by the will of God. And only then was the cross transformed into a symbol of salvation, a symbol of hope, of forgiveness. But we should never forget all that the cross represents, because it is here that Jesus takes us next as he speaks on discipleship. He reminds us of the cross. He takes us to the cross and he says, "If you want to come after me, you must bear the cross." Not a literal cross, though for some Christians that has been true, but for all Christians it means you must come after me voluntarily and self-forfeit. It means the end of self, that the beginning of life might be had in me, in Christ. That's what he's saying. What it means is that if you want to come after Jesus, he says, you must consider your own will, your own life, as entirely forfeit to him. You must consider your old life, your life of pursuing the world and its lusts, your life where you answered to no one but yourself, your life when God was at the bottom of the priority list, your old self has to be buried. It has to be gone should you wish to follow Jesus. Colossians 3:5 says, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the rest. Dead. Gone. It's no more. It's not who you are anymore, Christian."

Friends, Christ Jesus voluntarily died to self when he came to redeem us and save us from our sins. He gave it all for us. His was the true cross to bear, the true agony, the true suffering and affliction, because he bore for us the penalty of our sins committed. What he asks of us in return is really just a light burden to bear, an easy yoke in comparison to what he bore. And if you have tasted of his kindness, brothers and sisters, you must now know that for every moment of every day, you must put to death in your life all sin, every false way of life that is not in accordance with Christ. Every day you must take up this cross and die to the flesh and live for him. That's what Jesus is saying here.

Every man condemned by the Romans to die on a cross would be forced to carry the cross member to the crucifixion site where he would then be nailed upon it and elevated. That's what our Lord Jesus did. Do you remember? And then they had to bring someone in to help him carry it because he was already so weak. This is like the Christian life illustrated: a bearing of one's cross all the way to one's death, a dying to self every single day, however many years the Lord gives us, be it that we make it to eighty as Ursula just has, be it that we make it to ninety. Each day we are dying and dying and dying to self. And he says in verse 39, this is the means by which we truly find our life. We find it in Christ, the true human life, one redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, one empowered by the given, poured out Holy Spirit.

Now the principle will be true of the Christian life because this is the radical extent that Christ demands of you. Now this is going to mean, at times undoubtedly, you're going to have fewer opportunities in the world because you're aligned with Jesus. Undoubtedly that is going to happen. It means at times you'll have to say no to family or friends, gatherings or certain hobbies that might fall on a Lord's Day, Sunday, because you belong to Christ and you will worship the Lord. It means that decisions around careers or where we choose to live must be made with respect to the fact that we serve God above all else. So we want to know there's a church nearby. You will have to, as Paul writes to Timothy, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. You see, this will mean Christ over everything else, and there is no other way.

Here are the terms Jesus says, and our works of righteousness can have no instrumental role in our salvation whatsoever. Amen. But the fact of the matter is this: the free gift of grace, when received, demands that we walk by this narrow way. Everything that you and I are, all that we own, all that we desire, all that we consider of value, is to be considered forfeit to God and our Lord Jesus Christ. His terms of peace have been made, dear friends. Full and free salvation, all for all who will believe. But will you accept the terms of self surrender? Will you accept the cost, the forfeit, and bend your will, bend your autonomy, to the way of him?

Isaac Watts wrote rightly in that hymn. You know it well: Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Christ Jesus, dear friends, bids you and I to come and die this morning, so that instead we might find our life in him. He who has found his life will lose it. You see the paradoxical nature of that statement? To find your life first, you've got to lose your life. Your old life is when you're in Adam, when you're not following Christ, when you don't know God. That's your old life. And it's only once that life has died, once that race has died, that you can truly begin to live through the Son of God who gave himself for me.